The Time to Leave
by Ubiquitous Wraith
Summary: A short Valduggery fanfiction. Valkyrie makes the decision to let the reflection take care of her parents before the imminent arrival of Darquesse. Warning - contains KOTW spoilers.


Valkyrie hated what she was about to do, but the time had come. Doomsday was truly upon them, and she had to let her parents go.

Standing before the mirror in her own bedroom, she tried to work up the courage to reach out and summon her reflection. Alice was sleeping in the next room. Her parents would be home in half an hour. This was the last chance she had.

Valkyrie sighed as her fingers touched the mirror, and her reflection peered out at her. It stepped into the room and stood there on one hip, waiting for her to speak.

"Listen," she told it, "Something's... something's gone wrong. Darquesse will emerge sooner than we thought."

It regarded her quizzically. "You feel it?"

"Yes. And since Nye's escape, we think... Skulduggery and I think that the Sanctuary could find out the truth any day now. I don't know if I'll be dead within a week or even by tomorrow. So... I want you to take care of my family from now on."

The reflection looked quite surprised. "Are you sure?"

"I think you're convincing enough now," said Valkyrie. "Even if you don't really see them as family, you're still better for them than I am. I want you to... be good to my parents... look after Alice and please, always keep them safe."

It was hard to keep the emotion out of her voice, but the reflection seemed to understand. It nodded and sat down on the bed.

"Where are you going to go?" it asked.

"I'm not sure..."

"Why not Gordon's house? You own it now."

Valkyrie was about to say that it wasn't far away enough; it wasn't safe. But she gave it a moment's thought and decided it would do for one night. She wouldn't have to tell Skulduggery where she was. She wouldn't have to face him on the worst day of her life.

The reflection looked back at her. Realising an answer was probably expected, Valkyrie nodded and said that it was a good idea.

"This must be very hard for you," it said.

"Of course it is. But will you promise to do the things I asked you to do? I need you to promise."

"I promise."

Valkyrie's shoulder's sagged. "Thank you."

"Would you like me to help you pack?"

"Pack? Oh, er, yes please."

From the look of things, there wouldn't be that much to pack. The wardrobe was stuffed full of unclean clothes and the floor was littered with half-completed sheets of homework and old socks. Had Valkyrie always been this messy? She didn't know. It had been a long time since she'd even been in this room.

The reflection solemnly passed her a faded rucksack and the Rugby shirt she used to sleep in. It looked as if it wanted to tell her something.

"Go on," Valkyrie said, stuffing her shirt into the rucksack, "what it is? What are you going to say?"

"Nothing," the reflection replied. "It's just that... we've had close calls of this sort before. There was always the possibility that you might go out on a case and never return. I never thought you'd let your family go while you were still alive."

Valkyrie turned so that it wouldn't see the tears in her eyes and headed to the bookcase, where a pile of clothes sat.

"There's nothing in there," the reflection told her.

"I'm looking for that dress I borrowed from Mum," she responded. "Something to take with me."

"I told you, there's nothing in that pile."

Valkyrie managed to sift through all the clothes. There, at the bottom of the pile, was the dress. She picked it up and held it against her face, inhaling her mother's citrus-oil scent. As she moved to put the dress in her rucksack, however, she noticed that part of the carpet beside the bookcase had been torn up.

"What happened to the carpet?" she asked.

"Leave it alone, there's nothing-"

"There's something under here..."

Before her reflection could stop her, Valkyrie had reached under the flap of carpet. Her fist closed on something. She pulled it out and gaped at what she now held in her hand. The Sceptre of the Ancients.

Her eyes widened. The reflection stood and slowly began to approach the bookcase.

"The sceptre," Valkyrie breathed.

"Yes."

"But we... How did you get that? I thought I left that in the other dimension!" She was surprised to hear anger in her voice. "You had a weapon that could destroy Darquesse hidden from me all this time?"

"I hid it for a good reason," the reflection explained. "If you'd known about it, then Darquesse would have known about it, and she might have been set on destroying it. That's why, at the earliest opportunity, you have to give this to someone you trust. Someone who can destroy Darquesse when the time comes."

Valkyrie examined the sceptre and saw that the black crystal embedded into the hilt was glowing. The crystal was glowing. She narrowed her eyes at the reflection.

"This is activated," she said. "Who activated it?"

"I did."

"You did? How? You don't even have any magic!" The awful truth dawned on her. "You were planning to use this, weren't you? You're its owner!"

"Please lower your voice," said the reflection. "You'll wake Alice."

Valkyrie stepped towards herself and delivered a punch that sent the reflection sprawling back. All the emotion she'd been trying to hold back now flooded her.

"Who were you going to use it on?" she demanded. "Me? My family?"

"They're our family now," the reflection told her, steadying itself against the bookcase. "You as good as handed them over to me, and I promised to take care of them. I intend to keep that promise."

Valkyrie stepped forward and pointed the sceptre squarely at the reflection's face.

"It belongs to me," it said. "It would become yours if I was killed, of course. I believe you could kill me if you wanted-"

"Don't tempt me," Valkyrie snarled.

"But then, who would take care of your family? Do yourself a favour. Surrender them willingly to me, give me back the sceptre and we can each live our separate lives."

Valkyrie couldn't afford to get too angry. Not now. Not with the threat of Darquesse hanging so low over everyone's heads. "Get back in the mirror," she threatened, keeping the weapon trained on a face so like her own. "Get back in there or I swear to God-"

It was then that she heard a knock at her bedroom door. She tried to shout some kind of warning, but it was too late. The door swung open and her father's cheerful face came into view. The grin on his face dropped immediately when he saw the two of them. His daughter, holding aloft some kind of sceptre, and... his daughter, backing towards an open cupboard door.

Everything froze for a long moment.

Valkyrie looked deep into her father's eyes.

"Dad," she said, "everything your grandfather told you about magic was true."

His face had formed like concrete. There was confusion there, fear, panic... perhaps some anger.

She went on speaking. "I am a copy of your daughter. Whenever Stephanie has to be somewhere else to practice her magic, I leave that mirror and keep her family company. However, she's just told me that she no longer needs my services, and it's time for me to go." She was beginning to cry. "I hope to find my own place in the world now. Please don't judge her too harshly for keeping these secrets from you. She won't do it any more."

The reflection seemed to stare at her in bewilderment, then turned to Valkyrie's father and nodded. He turned to stare back at the reflection. Valkyrie watched them carefully in case her father reacted badly.

"Steph," he said, "how long has this been going on?"

"A few years," the reflection explained calmly.

Her father leaned heavily against the doorframe. "Oh my God."

"I should probably leave," Valkyrie said, "before Mum – before Stephanie's mother gets back. You probably have a lot to talk about."

She turned on her heels and picked up the rucksack. She shoved it all inside – unclean clothes, her mother's dress, a picture of them all from last Christmas and last of all, the sceptre. The tears in her eyes were about to brim over, so it would have to be a quick exit. Let the reflection give its own version of events. Let them talk it through like father and daughter. Let them at least be safe from what was coming.

Her father wouldn't move away from the doorframe, so Valkyrie had to edge around him. She would have given anything for one last hug. She didn't get one. As she made her way down the stairs, Valkyrie heard her father wail and collapse to his knees, and suddenly it was too much. She raced down the stairs, out of the front door and burst into tears, there on the driveway.

She ran as the tears streaked down her face, past rows of houses, all the way to the pier. Before she could encounter her mother anywhere, she called for a taxi and sat waiting for it with her head down, working to silence her own noisy sobs.

This was it, then. She'd never see them again.

But they would be safe. The reflection would take over her life just as they'd always planned. Valkyrie had the sceptre in her rucksack where the reflection couldn't get it.

The taxi drew up, and Valkyrie got in. She confirmed her destination, and they sped off to Gordon Edgely's estate.

The house was warm when she got there. Part of the money Gordon had left her had gone towards keeping up the heating and electric. It was good to be in familiar surroundings, even when the situation was so dire. _Particularly_ when the situation was so dire.

Valkyrie locked the front door behind her and checked her mobile. She had two missed calls from Skulduggery. He was probably wondering where she was.

She drifted through to the kitchen, finding, as usual, that there wasn't much food in. She fetched herself a glass of water and a few biscuits and retired to the living room. Her living room now, she supposed.

Stuck for something to do, she opened up her rucksack and held the sceptre in her hands. There was still a chance the reflection would come back for it. Perhaps she would be able to dismantle it before that happened. She didn't know if her Ancient heritage would protect her from the crystal while it was embedded in the sceptre.

But wait a minute... Why had the reflection needed the sceptre in the first place? Only to destroy her and anyone else who threatened the family!

If Valkyrie dismantled and repaired the sceptre, it would become hers. Then all she'd have to do was use it on herself, destroying Darquesse and rendering the sceptre worthless. If something went wrong in the dismantling process, Darquesse would still be destroyed. And, either way, it would mean that the reflection would have no reason for claiming back the weapon.

There was just one problem, Valkyrie realised. She wasn't stable enough to take her own life. If she tried, Darquesse could emerge and reduce the whole of Ireland to blood-spattered rubble a whole week ahead of schedule.

The only thing Valkyrie could do was have somebody else use the sceptre on her – after it has been reset, of course.

Time to reset it, then.

Before Valkyrie could get started, her phone began to ring again. It was Skulduggery calling her for a third time. Reluctantly, she answered and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello," she said, her voice quite dull.

"Valkyrie?" said Skulduggery, a note of concern in his. "I've just had a call from your reflection. Where are you?"

The reflection had a phone? Well, that was odd. Valkyrie shook her head and replied, "I can't tell you right now."

"I know what happened. You left the reflection with your parents. Valkyrie, whatever plan you think you have, we can talk it through together, but you can't run off on your own like this."

"You want to talk about a plan?" she answered bitterly. "Well, here's one. I reset the Sceptre of the Ancients that my reflection was going to use on me anyway, and then I get someone to fire it at my head. You reckon that'll be enough to save the world?"

There was a pause on the other end. "I'm coming to look for you."

"Don't bother," she said, a twinge of upset creeping into her voice. "I'm not in the mood today."

"Stay where you are, Valkyrie, please. I'll be there soon. I'll find you," Skulduggery said, and hung up.

Valkyrie threw the phone across the room and held her head in her hands. She took deep breaths. This was one of the first places he'd look. What a stupid idea for a hideout. If only she could have the sceptre ready to go by the time he got here, it would make the decision easier for him. She just hoped he could be counted upon to kill her when the time came.

She picked up the sceptre again, examined it from all angles and then went to the kitchen to look for something she could use to remove the crystal.

By the time Skulduggery arrived, a harsh storm had kicked up. Typical, Valkyrie thought as she watched the rain lash against the nearest window. Skulduggery's shadow was at the window in the front door, pressing against the glass.

"Valkyrie," he called loud enough for her to hear. "Open the door."

She put the sceptre and crystal down on the table beside the sofa. Right now, the sceptre had no owner. Figuring that it was better to let him in that have the door blasted off again, she hurried over and unlocked everything.

Skulduggery's posture suggested urgency. His black hat was dripping and his jacket was wet. "You've repaired it?" he asked.

Valkyrie nodded, stepping to one side so he could enter. "It's through there."

He marched into the living room and stood there, gazing at it. She took her time in joining him.

"So," he said slowly, "all the prospective owner needs to do is slot the crystal back into place?"

"I guess so," she replied. "I think if you held the sceptre while I did the actual handling-the-crystal bit, you would become the new owner." She paused. "Then you could use it against me," she finally added, looking at him.

Skulduggery sighed as he removed his hat and tossed it onto a nearby chair. "This," he said, "is what we need to talk about."

"It would save everybody a lot of bother if you did it tonight," she said. "Other methods have failed, but a God-Killer... that would probably do the trick."

"You expect me to kill you tonight?"

She shrugged. "I expect somebody to kill me sooner or later. Might as well be sooner."

"Maybe you need more time to think about what you're doing," he said, still staring at the sceptre. "You might regret this decision."

Valkyrie then turned to him and let the emotion show on her face. "I regret a lot of things right now," she told him. "I regret handing my family over to that thing, letting go of every friend I ever had and letting you stick by me throughout all this when you shouldn't have done. But I can fix that now. If I die, then Darquesse dies and the world is saved. We both know that!"

He turned suddenly to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Listen to me, Valkyrie," he said firmly, "sticking by you was my choice, not yours. You might think you involved yourself in all this and that you control what the pair of us goes through, but you don't. If I want to stick by you, you really don't have any say in it. Do you understand?"

"Oh, let _go,_" she said, trying to pull herself free.

"Not until you hear what I've got to say." He sighed, and his grip on her relaxed a little. "Don't you realise that I've been dreading the day I'd have to kill you?"

Valkyrie turned her head away and said nothing.

"Don't you realise," he went on, "what I've sacrificed to keep you alive? That's what concerns me, Valkyrie; your existence. That's what important. Just... give me enough time and I'll find a way. You don't have to die for the world to be saved."

"What if I do?" she insisted.

He leaned a little further back from her, but kept his hands where they were, kept them together in that small space. "How hard it must have been," Skulduggery said quietly, "to say goodbye to your parents. Perhaps it wasn't a proper goodbye. I can only imagine the true extent of your pain, but you did it anyway because you thought it was the right thing to do. The only thing helping you through the pain is the knowledge that, years from now, they could still be alive and happy. Isn't that right?"

Valkyrie nodded.

"If you die tonight," he said, "what is here to help _me_ through?"

She held her head low, deeply impressed by what he had said.

"I know it's a lot to ask..." she said. "My reflection told me that I needed somebody I could trust enough to kill me. I hoped whoever it was would be a friend too, so my last night wasn't so lonely. I'm glad it was you that turned up here."

Skulduggery was about to pull her into a hug, then realised that the jacket he wore was still sodden. He removed it. Valkyrie's hands trailed down the lapels as it fell to the floor, and then he hugged her. She hugged tightly back. His shirt wasn't too damp at all. It still smelled of the powder it had been washed in.

Valkyrie made an attempt at humour, knowing he would, at least, approve of that. "You might be surprised," she said, "how liberating it feels, knowing you're going to die. I feel like I could accomplish anything right now."

"You're not going to die," he said.

When she looked up at him, he seemed to simply stare back at her. Suddenly she could see everything that he was, and had been, and she wanted so desperately to cling to that before it was all over. Whether it was her feeling of liberation or desperation that led her to stretch up and kiss his cheek, she didn't know, but she felt not one ounce of regret for doing it.

Of course, she realised, he couldn't kiss her back, but that didn't matter. In no time they were embracing each other so passionately that it made her heart jump in her chest. Skulduggery was the only one left. He was the only one that mattered; the only one that cared if she lived or died.

She told him then that she loved him. But of course, he'd suspected that all along; it had been bloody obvious, apparently. They laughed about that.

Then he set her down on the sofa, where she lay still, looking at him. The detective perched there next to her and framed her face with his hands.

"You're the best partner I've had, you know," he said. "I wish I could have done more to save the first boy that tagged along. But I knew right from the start that you were special."

"I thought you were too," she said.

The sofa turned out to be long enough to allow Skulduggery to lie beside her (Gordon had clearly thought of everything when furnishing the house). They had never shared a space this intimately before. Gradually he removed the space between them until he was holding her as tightly as before.

Valkyrie didn't know how much time passed. She let the seconds, minutes and hours go by. It was OK as long as she was allowed to stay beside him. She knew, at some point, that she would have to leave and take the sceptre with her, and have someone else destroy her for the greater good. But Skulduggery didn't sleep, and until he let her go, until he let her leave this sofa, she would never get the chance.

Valkyrie makes the decision to let the reflection take care of her parents before the imminent arrival of Darquesse. Warning - contains KOTW spoliers and, er Valduggery.

valkyrie cain skulduggery pleasant valduggery derek landy ubiquitous wraith time leave sceptre ancients reflection


End file.
